Black Rose
by Mayuko Tataeshi
Summary: AU, A&C. As a bounty hunter, the Black Rose is known for taking all the most dangerous jobs. Holding her eccentric family together at the same time could prove to be too much strain. Can Cagalli get past her biggest obstacle ever?


**Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED. But I own the Black Rose, so HA!**

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Black Rose

Cagalli Yula Athha… a 25-year-old bounty hunter known as the Black Rose, married to Athrun Zala, with one child. No one but Athrun knew her alternate identity.

As the Black Rose, Cagalli wore a short, sleeveless black dress, about down to her knees. She wore black gloves with the fingers cut off, and black inch-high heeled boots. On occasion, she would wear a long black cloak with multitudes of roses embroidered on it. She fought with any and all weapons—guns, daggers, and small poisonous throwing-darts. She had been known to use grenades in bad situations. When the Black Rose entered a bar (which tended to have bounty shops inside), everyone inside would freeze for a moment. Even once they had recovered, whispers flew through the room like the wind in a storm. And when she had left, a wave of fear washed over the world… because if she had left, it meant that the Black Rose would attack that night. She attacked people in their sleep, sparing none. Infant, child, adult, elder—none survived once their death warrant had been issued to the Black Rose.

The earlier mentioned child of Cagalli and Athrun was named Sabrina. Her parents and good friends called her Rini, her nickname. She ran away often, despite her young age of five. Sabrina had learnt to walk and talk at two years, and at four was the mental equivalent of a nine-year-old, both in knowledge and maturity. Her dream was to save the world from the war currently raging. Like that was ever going to happen…. Although Sabrina was quite strong. She knew how to handle guns and knives, and slept with both under her pillow, as well as carrying them beneath her clothing in the day. A strong sense of self-preservation ran in the family, obviously.

Athrun was… well, your average guy of 24 years. He was deeply in love with his wife, and would do anything to protect her and Sabrina, even if it meant sacrificing his life. He worked as a receptionist at a Toyota dealership. Every day Athrun would come home, bored to death, and lie down on the couch. Cagalli would come in with a mug of coffee, which she would place on the table. After she left, Athrun would drink the coffee, then find Cagalli and embrace her gently. His whole life ran pretty much like this. And he was quite content. But every night, when Cagalli went off to go assassinate another person, or group of people, Athrun would lie in bed worrying about everything that could go wrong, until Cagalli returned safely home.

Now, on with the story!

One day, when Sabrina ran off again, she ended up in a barfight. She actually threw her attacker right over her head and into the wall. Quickly, a crowd collected around the small girl. Almost everyone in the bar wanted to test his or her strength against this miniature Superman. As Sabrina defeated the contestants, one after the other, Cagalli walked into the bar. As usual, the room fell deathly silent. Sabrina stared, but didn't recognize her mother. Cagalli walked up to the bar, and requested to look at the bounties. The lady standing there spread out a pile of papers. Various faces, various rewards.

"Isn't there anything more difficult?" Cagalli asked. The lady stared.

"These are the highest known to be possible in the allotted time…" she spoke.

"I don't care. Show me the higher bounties," Cagalli snapped. The lady took out two papers. One read 'Meer Campbell', and showed a picture of a teenage girl with long hair. The other read 'Sabrina Athha-Zala'. After looking at the two for a long time, so long that the bar was full of people talking again, she spoke.

"Sabrina Athha-Zala. Why do you think this will be so hard? She's standing right over there. Wait five minutes, and get my reward ready," she said, and walked up to Sabrina.

"I challenge you," she said, in a surprisingly level voice, seeing as she had just vowed to kill her daughter. Sabrina nodded her acceptance. As soon as the match began, Cagalli stepped forward and delivered a quick uppercut to Sabrina's chin. She flew upwards from the strength of the blow. Within seconds, she was lying on the floor ten feet away, groaning. Cagalli walked over to her. From nowhere, she produced a needle-thin dart. Throwing it, she hit Sabrina's neck. She fell limp. The color drained from her face and she stopped breathing. She gave every appearance of being dead. Cagalli collected her reward, then picked Sabrina up from the ground and left.

"Athrun? I'm home!" Cagalli called, once she had closed the door to their house. Athrun came out of the living room almost immediately. He gasped at the sight of Sabrina's limp body.

"Don't worry. I gave her a sleeping dart—she only looks dead," Cagalli reassured him. They took Sabrina up to her room, and laid her down. Athrun and Cagalli sat next to her. After a while, Athrun spoke.

"So. You almost killed our daughter, and you're not one bit concerned?" he asked.

"What!? I—you—How could you!? It's like you're accusing me of being a-a-a-I don't know, a crazy murderer or something!" Cagalli yelled.

"Cagalli, you could have killed her! What were you thinking!? Are you insane!?" Athrun yelled back at her. Cagalli began to fight back tears.

"Well… if that's what you think… if that's what you think, Zala, then think again! I don't need you, anymore than you seem to need me! If you think that I'm insane… I have reasons, you know!" Cagalli yelled, and ran out the door. Without thinking, Athrun ran after her.

Cagalli ran as fast as she could, crying, as far from home as she could. Eventually, near the outskirts of the city, she felt about to collapse from fatigue. She found a ladder on the side of a building, and crawled up to the roof. She pulled her cloak around herself, and buried her face in it to cry until sunrise. But her plans were interrupted. Athrun found her within ten minutes, and crawled to her side.

"Cagalli… Why do you have to be like this?" he asked.

"I should be asking you that, Zala. I told you, I don't need you. So why are you here?" Cagalli snapped.

"Cagalli… just because you say that you don't need me doesn't make it okay. Because, even if you don't need me, I still need you…" Athrun whispered, his voice beginning to be choked with small sobs. Cagalli turned her head in surprise. She hadn't thought of what other people might feel when she left. Feeling guilty, she took off her cloak and draped it around Athrun's shoulders—he had come out in only a t-shirt and pants, and the night was cold. He collapsed against her, crying. Cagalli hugged him close to her, and stroked his hair until he calmed down.

At sunrise, the two walked back home, and found Sabrina sleeping peacefully. Athrun smiled, and gave Cagalli a quick kiss on the lips. She blushed, but didn't pull back.


End file.
